Friday, 16 August 2013

Story of mum

I'm taking part in Pippa at Story of Mum's virtual tour today. I first 'met' Pippa on twitter shortly after Wilf's birth and found her site a wonderful and inspiring place to visit. We met in real life recently at Britmums Live and I can confirm that she is one of the loveliest people ever.

I choose this picture from the 'i'm a mum and i'm a...' gallery as I love the idea of this continuing cycle of mothering, developing into nurturing your children's children and even your children's children's children! Wilf's great granny (my granny) is still alive (you can see them first meeting in this post). My granny had my mum at 26, my mum had me at 26 and I became a mum at..you guess it, 26! We are 27, 54, 80. I love thinking about my granny and mum going through motherhood at the same age as I did/am.

I decided for my part of the exhibition I would create 'my mum story'. I can't play this back to myself more than once as I find listening to myself talk a very weird and embarrassing experience. Also please excuse the noise of Tom giving Wilf his bath in the background, true life hey!

9 comments:

pippa @storyofmum
said...

I love this film Fritha (and your voice sounds perfectly normal to me, but then I hate the sound of my own voice too, so I empathise...). And I particularly liked the bath-time glee in the background too. It's so wonderful to hear about your road to motherhood, and how you were able to move beyond those first tough months to truly embrace that role. I also love this idea you've shared of the lineage of parenthood, that sense that we are connected to generations and mothers since time began. I have a really strong memory of sitting feeding my daughter on a visit to Chysauster (some local village ruins from the late Iron Age) with the sun in my face, sheltering on some rocks behind an ancient wall out of the wind, and feeling that I was part of something truly incredible - creation. And of course, wine has been going for quite a long time too... ;)

thanks so much Pippa! yes you put it very well, 'the lineage of parenthood'. Sometimes when I'm having a hard day I think every mother goes through this, past generations or people from all walks of life will all have shared these moments good and bad. I also had this sense of belonging when I had Wilf, of finally being a mum and belonging to all that that entails! x

This is so beautiful Fritha, I shed a tear at the start and by the time you had moved onto how becoming a mum strips you of all selfishness I was sobbing! It's so true and it is amazing to feel that you would happily give your life for this little person / people. Being a mum is the hardest job, but it is also the best thing in the world xx

A beautiful tale and that photo of Wilf looking up at you is just so precious. Motherhood is the most amazing journey and like all journeys has hills that we can barely see over as well as the bits we free-ride with our hair blowing in the wind. I think realising quite how lucky we are when things are going well is what it is all about. x